Bruce Afran

Of Counsel

Bruce Afran is Of Counsel to the Mayer Law Group LLC. A 1985 graduate of Brooklyn Law School, Bruce Afran also holds a degree in history from the State University of New York at Binghamton where he graduated in 1982.

Since 1986 he has been one of New Jersey’s leading civil rights and constitutional lawyers, figuring prominently in cases concerning civil rights, corporate fraud, election reform, immigrant rights and family law. Since 2001, he has been adjunct professor of law at Rutgers University School of Law in Camden where he teaches civil rights, civil liberties and First Amendment law.

He argued before the Third Circuit Court of Appeals for a special election in New Jersey to replace resigning Governor James E. McGreevy. In one of the longest oral arguments recorded before the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, Afran and Co-counsel Carl Mayer argued that the substance of McGreevy’s departure from office created a vacancy under the New Jersey constitution that should be filled by election. This case, in part, resulted in the creation of the Lieutenant Governor position in New Jersey.

Professor Afran in the 1995 case of Pascale v. Pascale achieved the judicial recognition of non-custodial parents’ rights to retain child support funds to spend directly on children, an innovation never before implemented in the United States and which expanded the rights and participation of non-custodial parents in their children’s lives. Prof. Afran’s work has also resulted in the elimination of race-based adoption in New Jersey, a practice that left thousands of African American children without permanent adoption placements for years on end.